So what transpired in the world of Sony's PS3 this week? Nate Drake's newest adventure is certainly off to a good start. And then there's word that the PS3 is continuing its newfound sales spurt in the land down under. Oh, and here's a no-brainer: rumblings about new entries in two of the PS3's biggest franchises have started to trickle out from the rumor mill. All in all, another good week for the PS3. Well, except maybe for that one particular console they threw into the Bravia. It didn't seem to get too banged up though.

In stark contrast to the PSP Go's dismal first-week sales in Australia, the PS3 has been performing admirably in the region. Since the PS3 Slim's September 3 launch, the console has been outselling both the Xbox 360 and Wii.

I don't know what hurts more - the fact that they just obliterated two pieces of perfectly fine hardware, or that they did so just to show they have lots more where those came from. Either way, watching this one had a bit of sting into it. The guys at Sony Australia, who apparently have thousands of Bravias lying around, loaded a catapult with a PS3 Slim and launched it straight into the beautiful black screen. Ouch.

Good news for the folks from down under - 250GB PS3 Slim bundles are coming your way. Sony Computer Entertainment Australia made the announcement earlier today, and you'll be treated to a few great pickings to enjoy with your new PS3 Slim.

Did IGN just stealthily peg the European Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) launch at a specific June 2010 date? Keen-eyed tipster zman7861 pointed us to his observation that the site has now indeed put up an exact date for the game's region release.

We didn't see any announcements for new PS3 exclusives this week, but we did get more than enough updates for both upcoming and already-released PS3 titles. Sony CEO Howard Stringer and PSN main man Eric Lempel also said their piece on some of the pressing issues dogging the PS3 and the PSN. Heartbreak also reared its disappointing head this week as we finally heard back about the long-rumored Syphon Filter 5 listing at mo-cap studio PCB's site. Long story short, it was just a typo. Awww.

Australian gamers have long lamented the difficulties that the lack of an 18+ rating has caused in their home country. Almost every year, we hear about high-profile games being banned or watered down just so they can squeeze past the Office of Film and Literature Classification's (OFLC) tight screening process. Entries in Sony's God of War series have so far been able to arrive safely in the territory, but according to Digital Life, the developers of God of War III have expressed concern about whether or not the game will be able to do the same.

IGN Australia managed to catch up with God of War III lead designer Todd Papy and the short interview shed some light on the graphical and technical aspects of Kratos and his knack for killing everything that moves. Since the dev team has a lot of PS3 power to work with, Papy has plenty of room to learn, to polish, and to share knowledge with other developers.

Here's a bit of good news for European gamers who don't have the means to buy Pain over the PlayStation Network. The game will be released on Blu-ray next week.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) is going black. EB Games Australia is reportedly offering at their online store the Assassin'sc Creed 2 Exclusive Black Collector's Edition, and is pegging it for a November 2009 ship-out.